Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Wired Interviews Anousheh Ansari

Wired has an interview of Anousheh Ansari. The interview includes video clips of what it's like at the ISS, and discussions of a variety of topics like the Ansari X PRIZE, Prodea Systems, ISU scholarships, and skills needed for long-term development of space. The following excerpt gives some idea of what types of decisions are being considered behind the scenes at the X PRIZE Foundation:

"WN: Do have specific recommendations for ways to improve the K-12 curriculum's coverage of space?

Ansari: It won't be a recommendation that I would develop in a vacuum. There are so many resources out there. Just NASA itself produces tons of educational material. I think the problem is how to make this material accessible and easily understandable and usable. I am hoping to work with teachers, with students, with all of these agencies producing these materials to see where the problems are and why it isn't being used as much as everyone hopes. I'd like to ask the teachers, what are the problems they see?

Also, the X Prize Foundation is another possible conduit.... We have been looking to see if there is an X Prize that specifically addresses education. It is still at a very early stage."